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Serious issue with egg and Thermapen

I am on my second year with an XL. My wonderful wife gave it to me for Christmas. Issue I am having is my family does not like the food that comes off the egg. I travel a lot and have been lucky enough to eat in some really great places. Now that we have the egg and the Thermapen I can re-create some of my meals. Problem is the family is not used to it. Example, tonight a great spatch chicken. Compliant is that it was to watery (?) Other night I did a meatloaf, texture was wrong (not killed in the oven for 90 minutes) . Question I have is, how long does it take to re-train the family?
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Comments

  • BYS1981
    BYS1981 Posts: 2,533
    mine took to the egg really quickly.. but keep them trying egged food
  • fljoemon
    fljoemon Posts: 757
    I am fighting similar battles at home too .. SWMBO and in-laws wont touch meat even if there is a slight pink hue. They want their meat cooked well done like leather. I tried maskimg it with some fantastic sauces, but they poke right through the sauce and point out the pink to me. I am still keeping to it trying to train them to enjoy the flavors of good steak.
    LBGE & Mini
    Orlando, FL
  • CAT Seller
    CAT Seller Posts: 208
    @ fruitguy, sounds like you have two choices....1. kick the family to the curb, or 2. sell the used XL (to me).
    If it ain't a CAT, it's a dog!!! 2 LBGE's & BGE Backyard Chef Edition Cart
  • fruitguy
    fruitguy Posts: 303
    Tough choice. Will need to sleep on it
  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    My family was all over it after the very first cook. I'd just cook the way you want. You can't please everyone.
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273
    wow - great post fruit guy -- I get what you are saying.... Now you are on target - but the training -- ......
    Cookin in Texas
  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
    When people aren't used to eating real food it doesn't taste good. It's no different then taking a fast food junkie and giving them a actual piece of beef or chicken.  Their taste buds aren't remotely accustom to the flavor or the texture. Good luck with acclimating the family to real food that actually tastes good with out being processed to hell.
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
  • Jebpot
    Jebpot Posts: 374
    agree with RV10Flyer, and work them in over time.

    XL and Small

    Chattanooga, TN

  • bettysnephew
    bettysnephew Posts: 1,188
    Take your portion of the meal out of the XL when properly cooked, open the lid and let the Egg go nuclear.  In a short while the food should come out nice and dry and of the color they seem to desire.  If not, take it and put it in an oven uncovered til "correct" doneness is achieved.  Just kidding.
    A poor widows son.
    See der Rabbits, Iowa
  • @fljoemon:  Tell them that the pink color is just from the smoke ;)



    [Northern] Virginia is for [meat] lovers.
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    For steaks, one of the reasons I discovered the reverse sear was to give SWMBO a well done steak without incinerating it. Depending on the thickness, her steak goes on the 250º indirect cook at least 15-30 minutes before mine. When mine hits the internal of 110-115, off they come and the setup is changed for a direct sear. I never take the temp of her steak, it is always over 150º, so it just doesn't matter. 
    For Chicken, instead of spatch (yeah i know it looks nice) go with pieces. Cook their pieces to 180º
    and yours to 150º for breasts and 170º for legs. Also provides the advantage of using different rubs, you can experiment while they get same old same old. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • I agree with Skiddymarker on the chicken.  Thats what works for us, my wife likes her dark meat well done (but wont admit it) so I cook the pieces separately.  I have 2 pounds of home made bacon in the freezer, which my wife loves, and came home last night and saw a package of pre-cooked frozen bacon in the freezer.  I asked her why she bought it when we have the home made bacon, she said it was easier, just pop it in the micro for 10 seconds. :-O
    Simi Valley, California
    LBGE, PBC, Annova, SMOBot
  • SkinnyV
    SkinnyV Posts: 3,404
    Hmm... My family likes the egg food, my visiting dad did not.

    I think in the end its preference. Good news is bge have good resale if they don't convert.
    Seattle, WA
  • Austin  Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
    RV10Flyer said:

    I can't believe I'm saying this but use the Thermapen to overcook said meat.  Over time, gradually decrease your target temperature.  This way you can break them in gradually.  If your cooking individual pieces of meat, you can cook yours correctly and burn the rest.  :))

     


    Agree totally. Other half has always ordered his steak burnt to a crisp, then we got the egg. I cut his steaks thinner than mine and kept backing off until one day he realized what I was doing. At first he balked, but then realized the better flavor the meat had....now he has been converted to the 128 temp side.
    DIL is the other problem, she does not like the taste of food cooked over coals or lump, gasser no problem.
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
  • Drewdlc17
    Drewdlc17 Posts: 124
    My wife was a shoe leather meat eater especially on steaks. I would just cook hers at a lower temp and get It well done. After 3 years she is now a medium. You will be ok over time.
  • GQuiz
    GQuiz Posts: 701
    I got lucky. My daughter loves everything that comes off the egg. As for SWMBO, I have strategically placed the magnets with the recommended temps where she can see them (one came with my Thermapen). I just add 5 degrees to her pieces and show her on the Thermapen. It took a few months, but she accepts what it says. The only other concessions I had to make involved no more cooking with oak (they're allergic) and reducing the amount of smoke.

    XL BGE; Schertz TX by way of Stow OH. #egghead4life
  • msloan
    msloan Posts: 399
    my family is digging the egg stuff pretty well so far.

    for me, one key in cooking for my wife it to make sure I dont "oversmoke" things.....so I am careful with that......i havnt had mine for long but what I have made has been popular.

    the biggest issue we face is that I store my egg in our basement and no matter how cool I let it get it makes the basement smell smokey.....lol....I am hoping to build a nice deck soon that I would feel comfortable leaving the egg on it.
    gettin lucky in kentucky!   2 XL eggs!
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    next time your wife cooks in the oven complain about the dryness, texture, and lack of flavor
    :))
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    My family was all over it after the very first cook. I'd just cook the way you want. You can't please everyone.
    Yeah... why bother trying to please anyone but yourself?


    Unless your wife is some kind of gymnast who's father owns a liquor store, and your kids are on American idol or geniuses headed for medical school, I say dump them, get the egg in the divorce, and get a new family who appreciates real food. Yes, I'm a divorce lawyer.
    No wonder lawyers have such a bad rep.


    next time your wife cooks in the oven complain about the dryness, texture, and lack of flavor
    :)
    You can't possibly be a (happily) married man.

    Sorry to hear about your problem @fruitguy. I realize it's no consolation but, my experience has been just the opposite. Good luck!!
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • YEMTrey
    YEMTrey Posts: 6,829
    It took my wife about half a year or less to come around.  She first questioned why I would want to spend that kind of money on a grill.  Now she's bringing home different cuts of meat because she's interested to see how it'll taste coming from the Egg.
    I think she's becoming just as big of an Egghead as I.  I'm a damn lucky man!
    Steve 
    XL, Mini Max, and a 22" Blackstone in Cincinnati, Ohio

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    My family was all over it after the very first cook. I'd just cook the way you want. You can't please everyone.
    Yeah... why bother trying to please anyone but yourself?


    Unless your wife is some kind of gymnast who's father owns a liquor store, and your kids are on American idol or geniuses headed for medical school, I say dump them, get the egg in the divorce, and get a new family who appreciates real food. Yes, I'm a divorce lawyer.
    No wonder lawyers have such a bad rep.


    next time your wife cooks in the oven complain about the dryness, texture, and lack of flavor
    :)
    You can't possibly be a (happily) married man.

    Sorry to hear about your problem @fruitguy. I realize it's no consolation but, my experience has been just the opposite. Good luck!!
    nope not marrried, two camps and part of an ocean front trust, lots of boats and fishing, no money, but happy
    :D i might be a bad influence to my married friends, or so ive been told....and they have been told
    :)) :))
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • jccbone62
    jccbone62 Posts: 248
    How about trying pizzas, then grilled vegetables to get them use to the taste. Then try ribs or butts that don't have pick color other than maybe a smoke ring. Ease them into the other stuff. Either way good luck.
    XL owner in Wichita, KS
  • hotwheels
    hotwheels Posts: 73
    I agree with the above comments: cut the smoke down (for a while), overcook for now and slowly adjust. And let them know that pink is not a sign of blood.  Try some chinese wok and pizza on it to get them to appreciate how great the BGE is.  Best of luck

    People say that Television is bad for you.  It's that bloody Fridge, that's killing me.

  • freddyj
    freddyj Posts: 129
    hotwheels said:
    I agree with the above comments: cut the smoke down (for a while), overcook for now and slowly adjust.

    I agree. Try some boneless/skinless breast, no smoke and overcook a bit. Chicken will be moist but not watery and very good.
    Kamado Joe Big Joe, Classic & Junior
  • TonyA
    TonyA Posts: 583
    My mom came to visit a couple months back and I took her to lunch. She ordered the seared tuna tacos and nearly had a breakdown when the tuna came rare. I had long since forgotten the shoe leather meals of my youth and that this was one of several experiences I'd had with her like this.
    Many people like dry, well done meat. I think what most people do to chicken and pork is criminal. But it goes beyond customary expectations especially in young people and actually becomes about what people want. Don't freak if your family never make the change. But it is possible, my wife not only did it but once she learned to appreciate it, began cooking with a thermometer with confidence.
  • bboulier
    bboulier Posts: 558
    Can't say this has been a problem.  My family has been eating my grilled/barbecued food for decades.  They have been happy with the expanded range of the BGE.
    Weber Kettle, Weber Genesis Silver B, Medium Egg, KJ Classic (Black)
  • fruitguy
    fruitguy Posts: 303
    Thanks for all the comments.  I will make some adjustments.
  • michigan_jason
    michigan_jason Posts: 1,346
    fljoemon said:
    I am fighting similar battles at home too .. SWMBO and in-laws wont touch meat even if there is a slight pink hue. They want their meat cooked well done like leather. I tried maskimg it with some fantastic sauces, but they poke right through the sauce and point out the pink to me. I am still keeping to it trying to train them to enjoy the flavors of good steak.
    So they do not listen to fact? Have you shown multiple scientific reports from reputable sources that clearly state temps that meat is pasteurized? I have broken the barrier with the doubters with proof, some just say at that point, "I just don't like the pink!" You can argue till' your blue in the face, but if you are arguing with someone who argues fact, you are wasting your time. Just save the better food for those who appreciate it and let the rest eat their overcooked dry leather. 



    "Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity, and are able to turn both to their advantage."